If you’re not all Fergie’d out after yesterday, this video is an interesting interview from Channel 4′s Jon Snow where he asks tougher questions than anything he was faced with yesterday.

He’s asked about the numerous players he’s fallen out with, how his politics should contradict the Glazer ownership, his weakness in banning so many journalists and whether his book would be different if he wasn’t employed by United.

42 Comments

Watched this last night on the news – made for difficult watching. Was the first time I’d ever seen SAF look nervous. I think he knows he has the measure of sports journalists but John Snow is a different game altogether – he’s used to dealing with politicians/dictators/world leader and wasn’t afraid to ask the difficult questions. SAF looked very relieved at the end when the interview finished!

Yes, certainly a bit of the “squeaky bum time” about Sir Alex’s demeanour in this interview.

Good, probing questions and ones which needed to be asked – all delivered in Jon Snow’s calm voice which probably made it even harder for SAF to react the way he normally would, although he did seem on the verge of losing his temper a bit when he said “You’ve got your facts wrong again”.

Also noticed he was leaping from his chair as soon as the interview finished.

I’m going to see him speak at the Royal Festival Hall next week. Really looking forward to it and hope I can get an autographed copy of the book.

Seems like only carrick from the seniors is going to get offered an extension. If this is true respekt for moyes. Sure vida, rio, pat, giggs have been great for us and i will always praise and cherish them, its time for the next generarion to step up. Its a whole new defence and midfield in the works it seems. For better or for worse next summer will change everything for us

I said in previous thread also that fergie have taken down those “only he can” like ex players…What about unnecessary court case with majority share holders that led to Glazers take over??..Support by Glazers in transfer market and appointment of moyes!!??..why he didn’t chose book release as the moment to go out of limelight and be with cathy in peace instead of earning 100k for defending Glazers and moyes??..Anyway the book is a must read but it shows little unfair to hit out at ex players only!!..But, love you SAF!!

this is so much selffishness .is this the fucking time for your fucking book.we are in trouble .it is not just a couple of bad results and say it right how are the fucking glazers loyal.dont like the way he spoke about x players.becks,keano, woodward is a joke.for keano was a great captain for us .should not had to listen to those coments.simple as.remeber 99 ?

Man….love SAF, but holy cow, does he not come out all Stalinist in this interview!

You know, I agree that SAF had a desire to win and an ability to act upon it that few managers in the history of the game have ever had. But I really do not like this Fergie I see in person. He seems dogmatic to the point of idiocy, control-hungry to the point of shooting himself in the foot, and seems to have decided himself what the narrative to the last 26 years of Man UTD should be.

What would have been nice is a down-to-earth reflection of a man who has truly achieved great things. Instead it seems like a dictator fiercely protecting his legacy, sandpapering the bad and echoing the good, and never coming out with any detail that could ruffle his feathers.

The way he speaks about the Glazers here and ignores the question regarding balancing them with his political anti-capitalist beliefs, smacks of hidden intentions. Methinks he wants to stand by the idea that they are and will be wonderful for the club simply BECAUSE it was HIS court case with the shareholders (Magnier) that resulted in the take-over. He can’t say they’re bad because they’re still at the club, he was once their employee, they saved him in a sense, and because Alex Ferguson doesn’t admit to making big big mistakes.

Further, his autobiographies are terribly bland and read a lot like what his match-programmes would read like. Working class cliche’s, the same battered inspirations, the safe criticisms…..I agree the man has to be incredibly careful of what he says, but goddam, if you’ve lived such a tough and inspiring life, and achieved things only few other human beings can really relate to, don’t you think you’d by default, have the balls to be honest in your OWN autobiography?

Why won’t he talk about why he thinks he hasn’t won more champions leagues in his 26 years? Does he still believe losing Stam was more important in 1999? What about why he thinks we lost to Barcelona in 2009? Where is the greatest change he has seen at Man Utd? Could he elaborate further on what values he would like to see in a modern footballer, besides ‘walking to training & respecting your manager’ ? The changing styles of football, where does he see it going? Why does he believe in playing through the wings? What is it about English football that limits it currently?

But instead you get a coffee table book which would have really been better off filled with pictures and captions. It reads like one long UN speech. No one’s going to grudge you anything if you have an opinion and a personality, especially after retirement where Mr Manchester United can take a rest, and let Mr Human Being (with one hell of a story, if only you let it out) get in the drivers seat.

Well, he is the greatest manager of all time, in the world, for a reason: he preached no one person was above the club but he put himself on top of it. It’s that attitude of his that makes him seem intimidating, controlling, omnipotent to the players and the fans. Its the same reason he’s not the best of men around. Evidence: When someone like Roy Keane went against him, he had him sent to Celtic ignoring what keano brought to the table. Also, he seems to have broken that tacit code: what happens behind closed doors stays behind closed doors. Its really a sad fact that Fergie has chosen to expose these facts that might put the club in a bad light and chose absolutely rotten timing to do so.

Fergie made it clear that he didn’t believe in player power, and said repeatedly that the day he would be stripped of powers like having full control over his team he would walk. I’m surprised people are so shocked about his attitude, it’s the same attitude that made him so successful in the first place.

I’ve been around his entire tenure at OT, I’m not sure many of his most vocal critic fans right now were around because it’s like the roy keane falling out is news to them or something. I find it hilarious that Keano would say Sir Alex – a man who gave over a third of his whole life to one club – doesn’t know the meaning of the word loyalty when Keano repeatedly cut the back off his own team mates, including that one that put the nail in his own coffin at United, and not to mention he walked away from his own national side at the world cup in 2002 saying he was unhappy with facilities and stuff like that, what a pile of bullshit, he had a falling out with the manager and threw hissy fit, went home to Ireland to tell the media all about it and then released a book AND DVD about his “traumatic” experience, so he really shouldn’t throw words like loyalty around. For years since his falling out with Fergie he’s had his own jabs here and there, twisting the knife as a pundit on several occasions so now he can just sit and take it like a man. That said, I loved Keano as United captain, all of the above is just my opinion on his headline accusation about Fergie… at the end of the day Fergie, Keano, Beckham and so on are all grown men.

One other thing, on the timing of the release… this is how it works.. when you retire you release your autobiography ASAP.. This book was always going to be released in the fourth quarter of the year because its the holiday season and it will be a gift for many many thousands of United fans from friends and family at Xmas. IMO, delaying the book would have shown a sign of weakness at United, that Fergie would have felt the fallout from his side of the story would be enough to derail the team any more than they already have been by being under new management.

Oh and let’s not forget most of the media shit storm over this nonsense is because Fergie dared to criticize the “new British loyalty”, the Beckhams. How DARE he say something about Becks And the same media that stoked flames of hatred against Beckham after his red card (when other football fans were burning and hanging effigies of him) and prying into his personal life by making a hero out of Rebecca Loos (Beck’s piece of ass on the side) WON’T STAND FOR SUCH INSULTS TO HERR BECKS!!

Away and support Chelsea ya fucking knob end, you’d love a manager getting sacked every 6 months. For anyone to have the cheek to think they know more than fergie just smacks of stupidy and you’re a real special type of idiot.
Davy Moyes red n white army. If you aren’t behind the club and manager you’re just part of the problem.
Twat.

So a man who gave one third of his life to his club is entitled to say whatever he wishes about players who have given a respectable amount. Look, I absolutely idolize the man, he has a shrewd mind that no other manager has ever dared to posses, but to look upon him like he’s some God is simply unacceptable. He was a man who has his own personal greed and agenda and who was in the perfect position to carry them out, which led him and consequently, Man Utd FC to be successful. He had gaping flaws about him, but his achievement made up for them. I kinda see Keano’s point, willing or not, players have given him and the club their talent and their work rate, and to settle scores with them just because he wants to is just low. I think Keano was the first one to stand up to Fergie and SAF shipped him of to Celtic. It just proves that although you have to stress to the players who’s the boss, the players need to be respected too, not liked, not loved, RESPECTED. I think Fergie is not a big fan of the idea. He always stressed “No player should be bigger than the club” but he never once mentioned the players with the right amount of respect that should be given to them. He was appreciaive yes, praised the deserved few, but respected them? I don’t think so.
And its really annoying that people so readily throw a player as important in the history books as Keane. Whatever he may be off the field, he was a true captain on it. He was the big brother to the whole team, he always demanded better from the players but when some other team tried to mess with his team, he put them in their place. Remeber when Viera tried to mess with GNeville.? He was left crying like a baby. He was the epitome of Fergie’s will, and maybe that’s why he was deemed unworthy to play for Man Utd. Intimidating the players..? More like the result of the Power play.

Lest we forget, Sir Alex made Becks (by his own admission) and Keano (who’d never admit it now). What’s interesting is how Beckham will let Fergie’s words slide, and yet Keano used his position as a pundit for a game between Dortmund and Arsenal to claim Fergie doesn’t know what loyalty means. Keano spent too long biting at the hand that feeds him and in the end he got smacked and he’s still sore about it.

Great FUCKING player though. I wish we had someone like him now, even if it means he’ll eventually fall out with the manager, and his national manager, and blame it on everyone else

Oh well perhaps u’d wanna manage Man Utd? and u’ll bring home, the treble? maybe more..? lemme tell u something…jus because u play manager mode in FIFA doesn’t mean u know what kinda manager Moyes is. If it were you standing on the sidelines instead of Moyes, u’d be pissing ur pants in the first five minutes. So keep that trap of urs shut tight. its been only 8 bloody games, so stop leaping for the panic button. Nobody here or anywhere has the right to judge anyone who’s managing any club in the world unless u’ve managed a club on ur own. So anyone who says David Moyes is a shitty manager, u think u cud do better u prick?

Who says he should have to keep quiet though about things that have happened in the past, this isn’t fucking MI5? From the quotes i’ve read he’s just cleared up a few very old stories (now) about where he stood in regards to former players. Let’s face it, players like Keane have all had their say before, whether directly or drip feeding the media their opinions, Sir Alex has never addressed what happened and his opinion.
Honestly fans these days are turning into ponces like the modern footballers. He’s told the truth and his opinion. Boo hoo. Players like Keane brought the club into disrepute many times and should be able to take this no problem, considering the problem was their own making ffs.
Ps. Has anyone even read the book because you’ve jumped to every conclusion possible when it seems you can’t even be sure of the facts or context of what was written? Serious question because so far all that has happened is we’ve seen seen the quotes the press and publishers want us to see and it’s a no certainty it’s a true reflection on the book althogether.

———————————-
“So a man who gave one third of his life to his club is entitled to say whatever he wishes about players who have given a respectable amount.”
———————————-

First of all my point about giving more than a third of his life to the club is to refute Keane’s abysmally poor claim that Fergie knows nothing of loyalty, NOT to justify anything Sir Alex says or does. But on the point, if two grown men have a falling out and they both tell their sides of the story, what the fuck does that have to do with the football played previously? It’s a personal falling out between two men. People forget fast that every player Fergie has criticised was a grown man, well paid for services rendered. They were no fucking slaves but they knew their place and when they exceeded it they got drop kicked out. Rooney is the sole survivor (and to a lesser extent Rio) and I think what saved Rooney is that as much as Sir Alex clearly dislikes him, he seems to absolutely HATE his agent even more.

——————————–
“Look, I absolutely idolize the man, he has a shrewd mind that no other manager has ever dared to posses, but to look upon him like he’s some God is simply unacceptable.”
——————————–

Straw man, never said he was God, and I’ve done my own criticizing of Fergie over the years. I didn’t like it, for example, when Fergie walked out on some of the press conferences. He’s an imperfect man.

——————————-
“He was a man who has his own personal greed and agenda and who was in the perfect position to carry them out, which led him and consequently, Man Utd FC to be successful.”
——————————-

Absolutely, he was an ambitious man, and most men if not ALL are motivated by some form of greed. Your lust for United trophies is greed too if you want to be totally honest about it. Fergie grew up in a working class backgrounds in one of the hardest places in the UK and learned very quickly that if you don’t stake your claim, if you don’t put your fucking foot down and keep it down you’ll be walked all over and he absolutely enforced that world view on United while he was there. Oh and they (media, opposition, even sometimes his own fans, etc.) did attempt to tear him down more than once. If other managers put up with what Fergie did at United in his early years here from fans and the papers, they’d take their pay off and walk. No perseverance, nothing. You can call it greed and agenda and there’s a kernel of truth to it, but it can also be described as ambition, will, perseverance, grit etc.

——————————————
“I kinda see Keano’s point, willing or not, players have given him and the club their talent and their work rate, and to settle scores with them just because he wants to is just low.”
——————————————

Every situation Fergie has addressed has been out in the wild for years. There has been theories about what happened, who was at fault and so on, and some, like Keano, went public to some degrees with their own explanations. Fergie was always going to write about his life and I’d rather he be totally honest even if it leaves some people hurt, than lie and be politically correct for the sake of his own image.

————————————
“I think Keano was the first one to stand up to Fergie and SAF shipped him of to Celtic. It just proves that although you have to stress to the players who’s the boss, the players need to be respected too, not liked, not loved, RESPECTED.”
———————————–

Not entirely true, a LOT of people have stood up to Sir Alex over the years and survived to the tell the story. Take Frank McDougall for example, who got so angry with Fergie in training that he punched him and knocked him to the floor. Fergie told him to get the fuck out the training ground etc. McDougall then came back and apologized, and all was forgiven. Fergie held no grudge for being floored by a player during an outburst. In Keane’s situation, Keane had become extremely critical of the team (which is why its HYPOCRITICAL of him to now bash Fergie for it) and his own influence was starting to wane. When that criticism came back on him he couldn’t stand it. He was done, Fergie knew it, a LOT of fans knew it if you are honest with yourself and Keane couldn’t hack that. That’s why Fergie called him “Peter Pan”, cruel maybe but Keane isn’t a guy to hold his tongue either. It could have went down much better of course but to put it all on Sir Alex is just wrong, if that’s what you are doing. Keane’s reaction to Fergie’s decision that he had reached the end is why they fell out.

————————
“He always stressed “No player should be bigger than the club” but he never once mentioned the players with the right amount of respect that should be given to them. He was appreciaive yes, praised the deserved few, but respected them? ”
———————–

Well here is where I find you absolutely wrong. Why focus on Keane, Becks and other people he had a personal falling out with.. and not on Scholesy, Giggs, Cantona and other players he not only made into who they were but has maintained almost a bromance with ever since? Don’t forget too that GIggs has admitted as recently as a couple of seasons ago that in recent years he has taken to storming Fergie’s office when he had a go at younger players to demand Fergie back off and sometimes even apologize LOL and yet they remain the best of the friends to this day. Scholesy flat out refused to play a game once, remember? But then he realized he was wrong and they buried the hatchet over it. I don’t even have to describe what Fergie did for Eric Cantona after “that” incident… and fuck, David Beckham when the rest of his “FANS” in England wanted him DEAD. Respect is EARNED is it not? There’s more to a manager-player relationship than what happens on the pitch. Outside of the few high profile events, Fergie took care of his players.

—————————-
“And its really annoying that people so readily throw a player as important in the history books as Keane.”
—————————

I’m not throwing him under the bus… I still have a jersey here with “GOD, 16″ on the back. I loved Keano, but his problem with Sir Alex is their own problem. I’m only giving my opinion… all of this is just my opinion, I assert NOTHING as absolute truth, I’m just telling it how I’ve seen it from the limited amount anyone outside that pair could possibly know.

——————————
“He was the big brother to the whole team, he always demanded better from the players but when some other team tried to mess with his team, he put them in their place. Remeber when Viera tried to mess with GNeville.? He was left crying like a baby.”
—————————–

Yep, that’s my favorite Keane moment. At the same time, he did describe the Neveille as the “Neveille sisters” so to criticize Alex for having at go at some of his MANY former players is very hypocritical, is it not?

Also, I keep going back to things that I think should be remembered because they put perspective on the nature of the falling out, but Fergie did say in the past before all that shit happened that he thought Keano could one day replace him. The two had massive respect for each other until the time when they disagreed over Keane’s future with the club and to a lesser extent, Keane running his mouth about his fellow players to the media.

——————————
“He was the epitome of Fergie’s will, and maybe that’s why he was deemed unworthy to play for Man Utd. Intimidating the players..? More like the result of the Power play.”
—————————–

I think he wasn’t deemed unworthy, he had been in serious decline for some time, I think Fergie just had no intention of renewing a contract and Keane probably felt shocked, maybe thought he would retire at United. It was a different time too I guess you could say, even though it’s not that long ago, our success was on hold and Sir Alex needed desperately to build a new team to counter the new Russian enemy in London. I guess Keane just didn’t seem the man to build the team around anymore?

There’s a lot to be debated about it really, but at the end of the day, they are all grown men and they can settle it themselves. Fergie isn’t the first person to ruffle feathers with a book… Keano did it himself too. I don’t think it will affect United one bit to be honest. Most of this stuff was already known anyway, it’s just that Fergie confirmed a lot of it and upset some people.

BTW, one correction from my previous post… Keane calling the Neville’s the “Neville sisters” was written by someone… was it Keane himself? I can’t remember where the quote came from or whether Keane ever admitted to it?

Yep I agree, Fergie is not an elected representative of anyone and so his political views are his own, so for the interviewer to try to bring politics in and somehow link it to the Glazer ownership reeks of opportunism at best. To me it’s clear he wanted to piss Sir Alex off and get a reaction in front of the camera.

@tony –> That’s the problem, you see it as a contest of being right and wrong rather than supporting your team. I actually don’t pay much attention to hyperbolic hatred toward the manager online because it would be nowhere near as vitriolic as it can get if people didn’t feel anonymous in doing it.

My own prediction for the season is we’ll qualify for the champions league and maybe will win a domestic cup. That would be exactly what I’d have expected from Pep or Klopp in their first season too, by the way.

kids,wife,united that is my life.i support no matter what.i am at the game tonight also.but…………. saf comments at this time are wrong .it can damage the team.it is not right to talk about these things now.
and supporting these glazers .wake up they dont love united .glazers are just milking the club all its worth.love united hate glazer

@Rukky –> Ye man, beyond the horrible taste of dropping two points late in a game, what bothered me on Saturday was how decent a game we had at center back right up until that fucking corner. I hate that shit so much. I think both Jonny and Phil definitely need to be retained for now, that said, Smalling put in some decent shifts too.

Reaction? Bit like anyone would I imagine to someone saying you were Stalinis.
Stalin murdered 681,692. Shot outright – an average of 1,000 executions a day.

Un fecking believable that Fergie kept his humor.

Piss off if you thing this smug sh*te got anything positive form having at the manager.

Think it is an absolute disgrace myself.

We could have learned some really interesting things. But having at Fergie because he had to work with someone of different political views might be fair enough. Associating him with one of the biggest mass murderers of the last century is another thing all together.

I was not amused with Jon Snow. I think Fergie did rather well to tell him to p*ss right off.

SAF is obviously not that keen on this. His son and agent is pushing the man too far. Let him relax, play golf and enjoy retirement he is clearly not enjoying any of this. Looked uneasy at book launch too. SAF has his reputation made, he doesn’t need this nonsense potentially undermining it a bit.

But I am not blind to the fact it is his fault that Glazers took over and we lose £70mn a year to pay their debt. He should never have taken his dispute with the former owners as far as he did and Keano was right about that, he just should not have said it in front of the team. SAF mixed business and pleasure and we ended up with the Glazers. He should never have done that for what – a bit of money when he was already so well paid. It was his biggest mistake and he knows it.

Jon Snow is an absolutely brilliant reporter, top man and a top class interviewer, he asked excellent questions of SAF. The politics is relevant as SAF has always been involved politically with the Labour party even giving a bit of advice to politicians. It was an excellent interview by Jon Snow, SAF is a bit of a contradiction as a person and Snow’s interview was about getting to the hard questions which SAF handled in my view poorly in this interview. He should not be doing this, these are proper journalists not two penny sports writers. I actually thought Snow was softer on SAF that usual.

@NBI Red Moyesy -> Bollocks, the Glazers still would have gained control of United because Magner and Mcmanus would have sold to them with or without the stud fee dispute with Fergie. You forget that it was Magner and McManus that attempted to oust Fergie by trying to amass more shares, imagine the catastrophe that would have brought. They were the aggressors, they took a business dispute that had fuck all to do with United and used United to get back at Fergie and he held his nerve, as did the fans.

What happened is the Glazers acquired more and more shares until they reached a threshold where they had to bid to take over the club and those two shareholders got their price and walked away with a handsome sum. Under the Glazer ownership we have won five titles, the European cup and our commercial revenue has skyrocketed, more than doubled per annum. The fees we paid on interest are a lot, but you forget very quickly that shareholders expect dividends, and that United has dodged a shit load of taxation while the club has been in debt, so the idea that we would have had 70 million more a year to spend is not financially sound at all. A publicly traded company also has to worry about its share price ALL the time which is bound to affect investment options too. But all of this is swept under the carpet. The fact is, United could have lost Alex Ferguson if he had decided the dispute had brought too much risk to the club and then we could have won FUCK ALL NOTHING since then, and not seen any reasonable gain in commercial revenue and have the league continue to be dominated by Chelsea and others.

In saying that, I don’t have to glorify the Glazer family either, I opposed their takeover by means of a leveraged buyout too.

The hunger is still evident in SAF. You can tell he is just trying to keep himself engrossed while we all know he wants nothing more than to take back HIS reins from moyes. DM on his art is doing everything possible to obliterate any last vestiges of the SAF era all in the name of making the side “his”. That’s just how far I’ll go with the similarities between the both of them.

People who think this was a ‘hard’ interview obviously don’t watch much political/current affairs stuff. Pretty mild compared to most Newnight stuff with Paxman. Fergie did OK , a lot better than some politicians.
But the best interviews are when the interviewer is so good that he is ‘friends’ with the interviewee and in that relaxed atmosphere gets them to open up to things they would never do otherwise. Frost is a master at this. This Snow, confrontational style, only gets people to clam up.

Firstly ive read most of the book n its not as bad as the stupid press make sir alex out to be.hes been honest and not as vindictive as people make him out to be.as for brendan rogers remarks he knows fuck all about football.just because he got the job at liverpool he thinks hes god.he wont last long by the end of the season.he does not know fergie well enought to open his fat mouth about him.so if your listening mr rogers.your very lucky to be at liverpool n when you win more trophies than sir alex then you may open your trap.til then shut the fuck up.